Chirlesan, Dan2014-07-222014-07-2220121647-1989http://hdl.handle.net/10437/5366Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) was long viewed as a costly or charitable measure on the shortrun but now it is an asset worth having on the long-run. Having investigated the origins, current status and trends of the CSR concept, we could state that, despite being a relative recent practice, CSR has been implemented worldwide at a stunning velocity. The business environment considers it a “must-have” in the company’s strategy in order to succeed. In the last few years, we noticed that, for the first time, large firms are not anymore in the spot light of public’s attention and government’s actions when promoting CSR as a strategic key element. It seems like the majority group of SMEs get almost all the attention, given their specific organizational and company culture as well as the restrictions applied to them by the economic environment. This paper aims at highlighting the core meaning, the advantages and the direction of specific practices regarding CSR in a company in general, and more specific in SMEs. Moreover, the paper analyses the extent of the integration process of this key-element in the Romanian SMEs.application/pdfengopenAccessopenAccessRESPONSABILIDADE SOCIALSOCIAL RESPONSIBILITYPMESMEESTRATÉGIAS EMPRESARIAISBUSINESS STRATEGIESCOMPETITIVIDADECOMPETITIVENESSPLANEAMENTO ESTRATÉGICOSTRATEGIC PLANNINGarticle